CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

UC did hire Brian Kelly out of Central Michigan as their new head football coach. He was introduced on Monday and seems like a great guy. He is very offense oriented. The Bearcats will be throwing the ball all over the place next year. He led CMU to the MAC title in his second year there. Good luck to him.

On Tuesday night, Xavier met Detroit Mercy University at Cintas Center and did what the 24th ranked school in the country should do to a lesser rival, whipped them by a 88-55 score. They shot over 50% from the field and dominated the boards. That makes for an easy game. Josh Duncan had a career high 25 points.

The NCAA has ruled that Adam Hrycaniuk cannot play basketball for UC this year but can play next year. Adam is from Poland and last year played on an amateur team that paid one of its players (an American). The Bearcats are now without a big man for this year. Its going to be tough for them to compete in the Big East.

The Reds are attending baseball's annual Winter meetings in Florida. This is typically a time when a lot of trades are completed. It doesn't seem like the Reds are making any blockbusters.

Ken Griffey Jr announced that he might be willing to play right or left field this year instead of center. Well, la di da. The real question is will he be willing to hustle this year?

Carson Palmer was named the FedEx NFL 'Air' player of the week for his play last week. Its the second time Palmer received the award this year and the second time Childrens Hospital got the $5000 donation.

Mariemont High Schools boys varsity basketball team went to 3-0 Friday night with a 54-49 win over Finneytown and Christopher Sizer was held to 8 points following his 23 point performance in the Warriors' opener. Fenwick is 0-3 early in the season and getting kicked around in the GCL. Hamilton High is 2-0 to start the year.

The Cincinnati Bearcats traveled to Atlantic City to play the Temple Owls Saturday afternoon and came away with an 80-71 win. Temple broke out on top and led by as many as 16 on there way to a 7 point half-time lead. In the second half, the Cats shut out the Owls for an incredible 10 minute 34 second run. Unlike last week against UAB, they hit free throws down the stretch to hang on for the win. Deonta Vaughn and Marcus Sikes each had 17 points; Jamual Warren had 16 and John Williamson had 15 points and 13 boards for Cincinnati (now 6-2).

XU traveled to Omaha to play Creighton University on Saturday night and the 24th ranked Musketeers lost to the Bluejays 73-67 before the largest crowd in Nebraska basketball history. The Muskies started slowly and played tentatively throughout. They fell way behind, then crept close several times but could never get over the hump. Drew Lavender led Xavier (now 7-2) with 13 points but only made 5 of his 13 shots. Next up -- the Crosstown Shootout.

The Cincinnati Bengals were dealt another blow before the kickoff against the Oakland Raiders. Cornerback Deltha O'Neal was picked up early Saturday morning for DUI. These distractions will take their toll eventually but not this week as they coasted to a 27-10 win. The Bengals overcame four turnovers including three interceptions against Carson Palmer and a fumble by Rudi Johnson. Chad Johnson and TJ Houshmandzadeh each had over 100 yards receiving and Rudi had over 100 yards rushing. The Bengals ended the game by taking a knee four times inside the Raiders five yard line. Cincinnati has never lost wearing their orange shirts over the white pants!